Researchers have recently suggested that it would be helpful for those experiencing terminal illness to interface with a computer in order to establish funeral plans, wills and even discuss spiritual matters. The underlying premise is that discussions with actual people might be uncomfortable for a variety of reasons. While no one would suggest that terminally-ill persons should take on additional burdens, perhaps the goal of avoiding discomfort during such an intense and disturbing time is not on point. Death is not comfortable. Read

You are speeding down a highway. You round a sweeping bend and confront a tragic dilemma. A family of four with two small children is standing in one lane and an elderly couple is in the other. They’ve had an accident. You have almost no time to react. Two lanes, one-of-two unavoidable outcomes: slam into the family or run down the couple. Which would you choose? Which would your driverless car choose? Read

This year has witnessed a slew of violent incidents challenging the constitutional rights of assembly and free speech. Ironically, some of these have occurred in that alleged bastion of peace and free speech, Berkeley, California. It turns out that hate is an equal opportunity phenomenon, as violence has been perpetrated by persons espousing a variety of political and social perspectives. Why has the level of hatred become so extreme that violence and destruction are becoming common occurrences? Read

Do experiments aimed at perfecting the CRISPR technique itself involve wrongful harm? Does CRISPR incentivize the creation of human beings through IVF? What about the morality of NOT using CRISPR to correct heritable diseases when we could? Do we have an obligation to use CRISPR for positive genetic alteration? These are just a few of the questions we need to be asking. Read

A Canadian (variously described as a transsexual or a non-binary transgender person) who does not identify as either male or female and uses the pronoun “they” to refer to [his or her]self personally and [his or her] child, is making big news, refusing to identify the sex of a child born earlier this year. Such a decision is not just an assault on clear speaking and English pronouns. It is an assault on something much more fundamental. Read

What rhymes with whisper, is simple and inexpensive to use, more significant to the history of medicine than the discovery of antibiotics, and was named a weapon of mass destruction by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence? It is called CRISPR, an elegant and perilous new scientific method for altering the genomes of living organisms.Read

My girls grew up on Doc McStuffins, a show about a preschool girl who imagines she is a doctor and comes to the aide of her ailing stuffed animals. A cute kid, happy, involved parents, and a little preschool biology: good, clean fun. However, earlier this month the show featured two lesbian “moms.” One of the script writers is in a same-sex marriage and is “definitely” thinking of ways to make the show more “pro-gay.” LGBTQ advocacy groups are thanking Disney. Is Disney still a “family” media company? Read

Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have successfully gestated fetal lambs in artificial wombs referred to as “biobags.” Although some might be concerned that the breakthrough foreshadows a future where women’s bodies are no longer needed for gestation, the largest alarmists so far seem to be defenders of abortion, one of whom fears the technology “could blur the line between a fetus and a baby.” Read

It sounds harmless enough: The Blue Whale Challenge. But evil has become quite adept at disguising itself. What might first be mistaken as a sightseeing activity is actually an internet “game” consisting of 50 daily tasks of self-harm, sleep deprivation, social isolation and, on day 50, suicide. At least two teens in the U.S. are believed to have died from the challenge. The specter of escapism holds a growing fascination for many in our culture, particularly the young, whose normal familial, communal or religious attachments are being replaced by nameless, faceless (and possibly robotic) “curators.” Read

In order to escape legal restrictions and numerous other moral and ethical concerns, many of the scientists busy creating human embryos by means of new technologies are also busy creating new terms to describe their creations—terms designed to imply that no human individual has been created. Are these new terms being created out of biological necessity or just rhetorical convenience? Read